Greater stick-nest rats were widely distributed across southern Australia in pre-European times, but only survived as a single population on the Franklin Islands in South Australia. Conservation efforts since 1983 have included survey of the remaining population, establishment of a captive colony and subsequent translocations to both island and mainland sites. Translocations have met with mixed success, with four of 10 (three islands and one mainland site) successful and extant for 19–28 years, five unsuccessful (one island and four mainland sites) and one as yet indeterminate. Overall, the increase in number of populations, area of occupancy and extent of occurrence has been positive, and has resulted in a down-listing of conservation status. There are numerous plausible explanations for the lack of success at some sites, but few data to differentiate among them. These plausible explanations include: the release of stick-nest rats to habitats of poor quality; high levels of predation (perhaps hyperpredation) by native predators (chiefly monitors and predatory birds) in combination, at some sites, with predation by feral cats or foxes; and ineffective release protocols. Most extant populations have undergone substantial fluctuations over time, and some show apparent long-term declines in abundance, likely increasing their probability of local extinction over time. There is a need for regular ongoing monitoring – of stick-nest rats themselves, their habitat and their suite of potential predators – to aid interpretation of outcomes. A more experimental approach to future releases is required to adjudicate among competing explanations for such declines.

Context. In Japan, the raccoon is an invasive, non-native mammal that causes significant agricultural damage and impacts on native biodiversity throughout the country. Local governments are mainly responsible for raccoon management. Intensive control campaigns focused on the early invasion stage have controlled raccoons in some regions but, generally, there are very few regions where raccoon numbers have been reduced sustainably, and no raccoon populations have been eradicated.

Aims. To improve national management of raccoons and canvass the opinions and perceptions of local government officers involved in raccoon control, and to review the efficiency and effectiveness of raccoon management strategies.

Methods. A questionnaire survey of 47 prefectural and 366 municipal governments was conducted, regarding raccoon management measures, during 2012 and 2013. The survey covered two topics: (1) management difficulties experienced by officers; and (2) details of the current raccoon management regime.

Key results. Efforts to manage raccoon populations have encountered some difficulties, including shortages of raccoon control officers, funding, expertise in raccoon biology and management, and lack of information about the invasion status of local raccoon populations and ecological traits of raccoons. Prefectures not currently managing raccoons indicated that they suffered from a lack of appropriate management procedures. However, current management programs were not generally functioning efficiently or effectively because many local governments did not implement appropriate monitoring. About 70% of local governments did not set control target indices, and there were very few quantitative datasets that could be used to measure the effectiveness of control in reducing raccoon impacts.

Conclusions. Best practice management programs have been being implemented in very few government areas, with institutional characteristics and difficulties in obtaining relevant information causing major problems.

Implications. Collecting and sharing information about effective raccoon management methods and case study examples from successful regions would enable other local administrations to select and implement the most effective and efficient control strategy, methods and monitoring program for their region.

Context. Mitigating wolf–livestock conflict is crucial for both wolf (Canis lupus) conservation and livestock farming. Wolf attacks at livestock gathering areas often result in surplus killing, severe economic losses and emotional distress for the farmers, and financial claims from compensation funds. They may also trigger retaliatory killing of wolves. One method for reducing attacks on gathered livestock is the fladry fence, a primary repellent based on wolf neophobia. Fladry, used mainly in North America, remains largely untested in southern Europe.

Aims. To test the effectiveness of fladry corrals at excluding wild wolves from experimental feeding sites and discuss their potential for protecting livestock in human-dominated landscapes.

Methods. We tested the repelling efficiency of fladry corrals at six stations baited with livestock remains close to the homesites of three wild-wolf packs in central-northern Greece. Using infrared cameras, we recorded approaching and feeding rates of wolves, brown bears and wild boars attracted to the baits, before and during fladry use.

Key results. The feeding rate of all wolf packs reduced to zero during fladry use. Effective repelling lasted from 23 to 157 days and ended with the removal of fladry. Wolf approaches also reduced by 75%. Modelling of wolf-approach levels showed fladry effect to be stronger when using a less attractive bait and weaker as pre-baiting duration or wolves’ pre-exposure time to fladry increased. Fladry also significantly reduced the overall feeding rates of wild boars, whereas repellence of brown bears was poor.

Key conclusions. Fladry can be a cost-effective tool to exclude wolves from small-sized corrals, for weeks or months. It may also be useful for repelling wild boar. We recommend further testing with live-prey at the regional scale with standardised protocols.

Implications. Fladry installation at farms should take into account livestock attractiveness and wolf habituation. Fladry efficiency and deterrence duration can be improved when it is combined with other livestock protection methods. Wolf habituation to fladry can be reduced by deploying it primarily in high-risk depredation areas. Moreover, deployment soon after an attack could prevent wolves from associating specific farms with being sources of prey.

Context. To predict the success of an invasive species, it is important to understand the habitat factors that influence its distribution and abundance. In northern Queensland, chital deer (Axis axis) is an introduced ungulate that occupies specific areas over periods of several decades.

Aims. The aim was to compare mineral concentrations in the soil and food plants of areas that chital occupy in high and low densities, and to assess mineral levels in blood sera.

Methods. Faecal counts were used to identify areas of high and low chital density. Samples of soil and food plants were analysed from high- and low-density areas to determine the concentrations of 10 minerals from 32 collection sites. Laboratory examination was conducted on serum collected from 46 culled chital to evaluate mineral concentrations.

Key results. Chital density varied markedly, with higher mineral concentrations found in soil and food plants in areas of high chital density compared with low-density locations. Average-ranked analyses indicated soil phosphorus levels were significantly (1.5×) higher in areas of high chital density, together with levels of Na (3.4×), Mg (2.3×), Mn (2.1×) and Fe (1.3×) in grasses that comprise more than 90% of the wet season (November to March) diet. Based on minimum requirements for ruminants, the concentrations of Na and Zn in grasses were suboptimal for chital. Serum Zn concentrations suggest a marginal deficiency in most of the animals sampled.

Conclusions. Mineral requirements of ungulates are such that deficiencies in availability of key nutrients may be sufficient to influence density and distribution. If there are deficiencies, the principal determinants of habitat selection are likely to be P in soil, and Na and Zn in food plants. Deficiencies of both Na and Zn in the diet may limit growth and reproductive output.

Implications. Mineral adequacy in the diet of chital may be a determinant of their current distribution and a predictor of the habitats they may successfully colonise in the future. Recognition of mineral nutrition as a habitat predictor may aid in the management of chital as a keystone species where it is native on the Indian subcontinent, and as an invasive species where it has become naturalised.

Context. Translocation of wildlife has become common practice for wildlife managers charged with management of animals on increasingly modified landscapes. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) is a species of great interest to the public in western North America, and individuals of this species have been translocated several times, but little has been done to document the outcomes of those translocations.

Aim. Our objective was to evaluate the movement, space use and site fidelity of translocated female mule deer in comparison with resident female deer in Utah, USA.

Methods. In January and March 2013, 102 translocated and 50 resident female mule deer were captured and fitted with radio-transmitters. Movement distances, home range sizes and seasonal range sizes were compared, as well as site fidelity between translocated and resident deer.

Key results. Mean distance moved and mean annual home range size were significantly larger for translocated than resident deer in 2013, but not in 2014. Translocated deer demonstrated high site fidelity to their release areas. In total, 75% of surviving deer returned during the fall (September–November) migration to winter range within 7 km of release sites.

Conclusions. Our results indicate that home range sizes and movements of translocated deer are larger than those of resident deer during the first year after release, but during the second year after release, home range sizes and movements of translocated deer are similar to those of resident deer.

Implications. The similar home range sizes and movements of translocated and resident deer >1 year after release, as well as the high site fidelity we observed, suggests that translocation is a strategy managers could use to establish or augment populations of mule deer on winter range.

Context. Accurate estimates of abundance are extremely useful for wildlife management and conservation. Estimates generated from distance sampling are typically considered superior to strip transects and abundance indices, as the latter do not account for probability of detection, thereby risking significant error.

Aim. To compare density estimates generated from conventional distance sampling (CDS) of arboreal marsupials with strip transect density estimates and abundance indices.

Methods. Off-track CDS and strip transects were used to estimate densities of P. volans and P. peregrinus across ∼2.6 km² of remnant eucalypt forest at Mt Duval in north-eastern New South Wales.

Key results. CDS density estimates for P. volans (1.36 ha⁻¹, 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.07–1.72 ha⁻¹) and P. peregrinus (0.28 ha⁻¹, 95% CI 0.22–0.35 ha⁻¹) were consistent with densities reported in other studies conducted in open eucalypt forests. A strip transect width of 40 m for P. volans resulted in a collective set of values for density (1.35 ha⁻¹), error (s.e. ± 0.14), precision (cv 0.10) and 95% CI (1.07–1.62 ha⁻¹) closest to those associated with the CDS-generated density estimate (1.36 ha⁻¹, s.e. ± 0.15, cv 0.10, 95% CI 1.07–1.72 ha⁻¹). Strip widths of 10 to 40 m resulted in density estimates for P. peregrinus closest to those generated through CDS, but much less precise.

Conclusions. Although a 40-m wide strip transect provided a robust density estimate for P. volans at Mt Duval, this is unlikely to be consistent across different study areas. Strip transects provided less precise density estimates, or underestimated P. peregrinus density at Mt Duval, when compared with CDS density estimates. CDS should be favoured over strip transects or abundance indices for estimating P. volans and P. peregrinus abundance, because it is capable of providing more meaningful and robust abundance estimates by accounting for the probability of detection from the transect line across different habitats.

Implications. Researchers, conservation managers and decision makers should be aware that common methods for assessing arboreal marsupial abundance have serious potential weaknesses. Thus, it would be prudent to invest in studies that address imperfect detection to improve the quality of monitoring data.

Context. Effective wildlife management requires information on habitat and resource needs, which can be estimated with movement information and modelling energetics. One necessary component of avian models is flight speeds at multiple temporal scales. Technology has limited the ability to accurately assess flight speeds, leading to estimates of questionable accuracy, many of which have not been updated in almost a century.

Aims. We aimed to update flight speeds of ducks, and differentiate between migratory and non-migratory flight speeds, a detail that was unclear in previous estimates. We also analysed the difference in speeds of migratory and non-migratory flights, and quantified how data collected at different temporal intervals affected estimates of flight speed.

Methods. We tracked six California dabbling duck species with high spatio-temporal resolution GPS–GSM transmitters, calculated speeds of different flight types, and modelled how estimates varied by flight and data interval (30 min to 6 h).

Key results. Median migratory speeds were faster (but non-significant) for the larger mallard (Anas platyrhynchos; 82.5 km h^–1), northern pintail (Anas acuta; 79.0 km h^–1) and gadwall (Mareca strepera; 70.6 km h^–1), than the smaller-bodied northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata; 65.7 km h^–1), cinnamon teal (Spatula cyanoptera; 63.5 km h^–1) and American wigeon (Mareca Americana; 52 km h^–1). Migratory flights were faster than non-migratory flights for all species and speeds were consistently slower with an increasing data interval.

Implications. The need to balance time and energy requirements may drive different speeds for migratory and non-migratory flights. Lower speeds at longer intervals are likely to be due to a greater proportion of ‘loafing’ time included in flighted segments, demonstrating that data acquired at different intervals provide a means to evaluate and estimate behaviours that influence speed estimation. Shorter-interval data should be the most accurate, but longer-interval data may be easier to collect over lengthier timeframes, so it may be expedient to trade-off a degree of accuracy in broad-scale studies for the larger dataset. Our updated flight speeds for dabbling duck species can be used to parameterise and validate energetics models, guide management decisions regarding optimal habitat distribution, and, ultimately, improve conservation management of wetlands for waterfowl.